Trans student lodges complaint after being harassed by classmate

Casey Norman decided to come out at TAFE in April as transition began changing his appearance.

A TRANS man who came out about his gender transition at Ourimbah TAFE in New South Wales has lodged a formal complaint after allegedly being harassed and ostracised by a classmate.

Casey Norman decided to come out at TAFE in April as transition began changing his appearance, The Daily Telegraphhas reported.

“Since my appearance had already drastically changed and was unavoidable to not see, I decided to come out,” he said.

It was during his coming out that another student interrupted, saying, “This is all too much, you’re way too confusing.”

The student allegedly systematically harassed Norman thereafter, sending him rude emails, calling him “missy” and referring to him by his former name.

Norman arranged for an LGBTI educator from ACON to address the students involved, but to no avail.

“Even during this time when I took a minute to explain to class how it felt when you misgendered someone and how it made me feel, [the student] took the opportunity to have another dig at me,” he said.

Norman said he was forced to accept a program to complete coursework at home, despite the other student’s alleged actions having breached TAFE’s anti-harassment and discrimination policy.

The policy says trans students should not be subject to “verbal abuse… based on their transgender [status]”, ignored or segregated, or referred to by their prior name.

Norman said the ongoing harassment caused him anxiety and left him unable to attend classes for fear of encountering the harasser.

His alleged abuser was not found to have breached TAFE’s discipline policy.

“I accept that the tone of some emails to you from one student is not polite or appropriate,” read a response from TAFE to Norman’s complaint.

“However neither the tone, nor content of these emails can be characterised as harassing or discriminatory to the extent that the student involved should be subject to student discipline.”

About the AuthorJess Jones

Jess is Star Observer's senior journalist. His background is in public health and sex work, and his special interests include health, gender and travel. When he's not writing, Jess is into movies, martial arts and margaritas. You can follow his tweets @JessJonesAU.